The respiratory modulation of interoception

Abstract

In a recent article published in The Journal of Neurophysiology titled "Sensitivity to changes in rate of heartbeats as a measure of interoceptive ability," Larsson et al. (J Neurophysiol 126: 1799-1813, 2021) introduce a new method to evaluate the interoceptive ability and report a surprising tendency in humans to perceive fewer heartbeats during spontaneous increases in resting heart rate. The authors argue that this result reflects a reduction in the strength of the heartbeat during the inspiration periods. Here, we discuss this finding and propose a complementary interpretation grounded on consciousness research and an emerging literature showing the influence of the breathing phase on perception and brain activity at rest.

Keywords: consciousness; heartbeat; interoception; respiration.